Do you know a kid?
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| Rainbow Bread |
One of my side jobs is to teach kids how to fence (Kids + swords = very safe?). Whenever I bring them something that is super colorful or is mostly food coloring they basically explode. Their eyes grow to anime proportions and they start to drool while the eyes twinkle.
It's been a while, but lately I've been doing some serious traditional baking of bread baking, cakes, etc. So, to bring some variations, I've been having some fun with food coloring.
This bread starts off with your typical bread dough. I've been using the bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. This is possibly the best bread book you can buy. It is super easy and super tasty and delicious. If you haven't read it, because you're some Un'merican communist, put down Mao's little red book and buy it. It will 100% be worth it!
Using your ready to go dough, FYI I use their pan d'epi bread dough here, have it out on a nice floured surface. Keep a bag of flour near by, you will need it.
If you don't have a go to bread dough that you like, feel free to use this one. It's very easy to follow, and it'll make your home smell won-der-ful. Bread seems daunting, but actually it's not hard, just tedious. You have to wait and wait to make it happen.
But, here is how to make the prettiest, and most questionable, bread you'll ever want to eat.
First, we preheat our oven so it can get to the hot, hot temp of 450F (or however high your oven goes). Then, on a very floured (hehe, makes me think of my favorite scene in Stranger than Fiction... I brought you flours) surface, and make sure your hands are too.
Ball up your tasty bread.
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| UGH. So.. uncolorful |
Half it.
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| Two boring breads |
Half those halves. And, do two more to make it six (the different number of colors I have).
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| Breads so boring!! Need color. |
Now pick up a ball and color it with your respective food coloring. I used both the liquid and the gel, and I found the gel was better. The gel food color was better since it was more about surface area and not mixing it in. The bread soaks up the water in the typical food coloring, and with the gel you kind of just cover it up.
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| Gelly. |
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| Notice: Serious amount of flour. |
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| AHHH! My bread is bleeding! ... bread vampires? I should call the CW with this idea. |
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| Behold: Reddish bread. |
So, you see how it isn't
quite all red, but more marbled? It depends on the bread recipe you use, but mine was a soaker, so you don't see as much red. Good news is, it gave it a really gorgeous marbled artsy bread. So, you don't understand it? But be an abstract bread....
Continue the process with your other bread balls, and layer them up. If you're doing two colors, you can just switch between. That would be great for a football game in your team colors (GO WATT< WOO!).
I have no favorites (Yes I do, his name is JJ.).
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| Bread blob. |
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| It's looks like a painting at an elementary school. |
Next, you're going to roll it up, into a nice colorful burrito.
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| Burrito. |
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| That looks weird at this angle... |
Pop it in the oven according to your bread recipe's requirements. Mine required a cup of hot water to keep it moist in a broiler pan.
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| Man, it does not look good from this angle. Do I still want this bread? |
When it comes out of the oven, refrain from eating. It's hard!!
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| colorrrsssszzzzzz |
Viola! You have just made the craziest bread ever. Don't worry, it still tastes good. But, it will sure make people look at your sandwich twice.
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| Nomnomnom. |
eat it!
-K
